FIRST DEER WITH THE FREEDOM ARMS 454

[JimT]

- NOTE: This was not THE FIRST Deer taken with a 454. This was MY first deer with a 454.- From a long time ago.

It was Opening Day for Mule Deer and I was going to hunt using the then-new handgun, the 454 Casull by Freedom Arms. I had shot it quite a bit by the time Deer Season came around and had settled on the Keith Semi-wadcutter cast bullet #454424 over a fairly heavy load of H110. I was using W-W .45 Colt brass because at that time it was still difficult to get any 454 Casull brass. I had proven to myself and others that the Colt brass would stand up to those pressures, though many at the time refused to believe that. Velocity was a bit over 1500 fps and accuracy was amazing. The barrel of the 5-gun was mirror smooth, very accurate, and never gave me a leading problem. I cast the bullets of hard alloy and dropped them in water from the mold to add to the hardening.

I was up before dawn, had a good breakfast and then loaded my pack and headed out. I was aiming to go south of our place down into the lower canyons. I drove about 6 or 7 miles down the highway and then took a dirt track for several miles that led to huge steep canyon. This was my “jumping off” spot. Parking the truck and making sure I had everything I needed with me I headed down into the canyon. It took me more than an hour to make my way down into and across it and then climb up the other side. I was heading for where I had seen quite a few deer. There was a small valley with a stream in it, good vegetation and lots of cover. There were mountains on 3 sides of it. I had always seen deer there and I was coming in the “open” end of the valley, working towards the hills at the other end.

As I made my way toward the upper part of the valley I was seeing deer sign but no deer. About 9AM I stopped and had a sandwich and some water and waited, looking around and letting things settle down in case I had stirred something up. After a bit I got tired of sitting and eased my way on toward the mountain at the end of the valley. When I got within a couple hundred yards of where the ground started to rise rapidly I saw some deer above me, maybe 300 or so yards. I started moving slow, trying to use cover so I could close with them. It took me awhile to make the steep climb and as I passed through the area where I had seen the deer I slowed down even more. The brush was thicker and I tried to move through it without making a lot of noise.

After working my way through the brush and trees I came to a more open area and as I did I saw deer in front of me, out in the open. I stopped and caught my breath and counted 3 bucks and 5 doe. There was a nice forkhorn nearest to me, maybe 60 yards, so I slipped off my pack, pulled the 454 from the shoulder holster and put the sights on it. It stepped forward, turning more toward me and was almost perfectly broadside. I put the sights just behind his front leg, up in the bottom quarter of the height of his body and squeezed the trigger. At the shot the deer stood there, then put his head down like he was going to take a bite of the grass in front of him. I thought, “Did I miss? How could I?” and I played the shot back in my head. The squeeze was good, the letoff was solid, the sights did not wobble. What was going on? About that time he started walking toward a mesquite tree and I was going to shoot again when I noticed he was staggering. He got to the tree and laid down, sat there for a minute and then his head fell over. A couple does eased up to him, sniffed him and then took off. I waited a bit but he never raised his head so I went up and found him stone dead.

Opening him up while cleaning him I tracked the bullet. It had entered the left chest, gone through the heart and out the other side. Tissue damage was comparable to high velocity rifle wounds from my wife's .243 shooting the 95 gr. Nosler Partition bullet at around 3000 fps.

The whole episode after the shot was probably not more than 30 or 45 seconds but seemed a lot longer at the time. Adrenaline is a wonderful thing!

Getting him down off that hill and across the hills and canyons to my truck was another story, but in those days I was young and thought I could handle most anything. And in the end the venison that my wife made from that deer was wonderful and worth all the work!

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[Drawdown]

Good read Jim, it makes me wonder why I've never tried for a deer with pistol! Years ago, read all the write ups I could about Doug Wesson and his hunts with the earliest 357's. I eventually got me my most desirable handgun, a Model 19 6" S&W 357. And it's still the pistol I love most, and I always wanted a S&W 22 Target Revolver for squirrel hunting, but I never committed to either. Fine Sport!

[GunnyMack]

It always astounds me to see or read about how animals react when shot. Run off, stand there or hit the ground are the norm but yet they do some strange stuff sometimes!
Great story as usual Jim!

[JimT]

It always astounds me to see or read about how animals react when shot. Run off, stand there or hit the ground are the norm but yet they do some strange stuff sometimes!
Great story as usual Jim!

In nearly 60 years I have shot enough animals that when I read that such and such cartridge/bullet/whatever always drops them in their tracks I just give up reading and go find something to do. I have blown huge holes through animals and still had them move a ways. I have shot coyotes with fairly high velocity loads and have them jump back and look at me. And then fall over. When I picked 'em up you could slosh them inside their skin! How does that happen? I don't count on anything except if the bullet is in the correct place, they ain't going real far. Hopefully.

[Walt]

Good story, Jim!

I should try lighter bullets than the 300 and 325 grain bullets I've always shot with my model 83. I'm glad but not surprised that you got complete penetration with the 454424 bullet.

I've got probably a dozen molds in 45 caliber, all 250gr or more. I'll experiment some more.

Thanks

[JimT]

Good story, Jim!

I should try lighter bullets than the 300 and 325 grain bullets I've always shot with my model 83. I'm glad but not surprised that you got complete penetration with the 454424 bullet.

I've got probably a dozen molds in 45 caliber, all 250gr or more. I'll experiment some more.

Thanks

It's not hard to shoot through a deer. A 260 gr. .45 going 950 fps will go full length through one. I hit one at about 80 yards as it was looking at me. Hit it in the left front chest, bullet exited right rear hip. Didn't hit any big bones. It just sank down on it's haunches and set there looking at me, dead as a stone.

[GunnyMack]

I've shot so many whitetails with slugs, buckshot and muzzle loaders and have also seen every reaction under the sun. One big buck I hit 3 times with Remington copper solid slugs and it never reacted like it was hit- I thought I missed it until it fell down.
Other deer hit with buckshot and like they were pole axed. Best results I've had was muzzle loader using Remington 180gr 44s with a sabot- most died in feet of being hit and just turned them into brown jello molds!

[Scott Tschirhart]

Thanks for sharing again Jim.